Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu on Wednesday suffered a major blow, just minutes after the High Court had ruled to stop her prosecution on a criminal case involving abuse of office charges.

Mwilu's lawyers obtained the order at the High Court and rushed to the Magistrate's court where the matter was being heard.

The High Court had stopped the Deputy Chief Justice's case until October 9th when its constitutionality would be determined.

However, Senior Principal Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi ruled that the order was not valid as it had the wrong case number.

The technical error occurred after Mwilu's lawyers mistakenly used the police file number on the charge sheet, instead of the case file number used by the Senior Magistrate's court.

Mwilu's case will now proceed until a valid order is obtained from the High Court. The magistrate directed that the matter be heard on Friday 1st of September.